Who Else Wants A Radius Map?

Everything on the ‘Net is about niches. One subject is dull and boring (a speciality of mine?) and another subject clicks … who can say? But what people search for and read about, I write about.

I’ve mentioned the 100 and 150 air mile radius rules for “local” commercial vehicle operations a number of times … here, here, and here for a few of the more interesting entries. The basics are that commercial, goods carrying vehicles that do not require their drivers to have CDL’s (Commercial Driver Licenses) are still subject to many FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) rules regarding hours of service (HOS) and record-keeping requirements. Depending on several provisions of the law, businesses whose vehicles operate within 100 Air miles of the location where the vehicles regularly return, or 150 Air miles have rules different than the rules for all other commercial vehicles and drivers. These regulations are not road miles, read from vehicle odometers (thank goodness, more on that fallacy here) but should be measured by a radius drawn on a map. How does the average business get a map like this? Well, they can ask me, and I’ll furnish an electronic version, free … no links, no obligation … or they can buy Microsoft’s MapPoint, a tool I feel a business shouldn’t be without … 100 mile rule or no 100 mile rule.

How To Make a Radius Map With MapPoint

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Air Mile Radius Maps

This is a sample, do not use for navigation or rules compliance, please:

Apparently I struck a chord a couple days back when I posted about the 100 and 150 “air mile” commercial driver hours of service rules. People have been searching for an easy utility to make/view radius maps around their business to see if they qualify for these rules, or to keep themselves legal.

I wish there was an easy on-line source, but I haven’t found one. Feel free to let me know if you have.

Meantime, I’d be happy to make such a map, electronically, for any reader who wants to see one. Just leave a comment, email me at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or call me on: 1-719-423-8872. To save us both some time, be sure to include the street address you want the map centered on, ok?

Hours Of Service For Local Drivers …. Why You Need GPS

Recently I posted about Federal Hours Of Service (HOS) rules and the article mentioned log books (Records Of Duty Status … RODS) and other common long-haul trucking terms. In spite of the fact that the federal regulations apply to ALL drivers of commercial vehicles … which basically means any driver who gets paid to carry “goods” in a vehicle under his/her control, a great many business owners think the regulations don’t apply to them. In particular this viewpoint is reinforced by the change in the most recent regulations which eliminates log books for “short haul” drivers.

But do not be fooled by thinking the law doesn’t apply to your drivers and vehicles because they drive vehicles don’t require Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL) and no longer need to maintain a log book like the “big boys” do. In many ways the “relaxation” of rules to eliminate the log book makes your role as business owner even more complicated. Here is a synopsis direct from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety site:

Drivers of property-carrying CMVs which do not require a Commercial Driver’s License for operation and who operate within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location:

• May drive a maximum of 11 hours after coming on duty following 10 or more consecutive hours off duty.
• Are not required to keep records-of-duty status (RODS).
• May not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty 5 days a week or after the 16th hour after coming on duty 2 days a week.

Employer must:

• Maintain and retain accurate time records for a period of 6 months showing the time the duty period began, ended, and total hours on duty each day in place of RODS. (emphasis added)

Drivers who use the above-described short-haul provision are not eligible to use 100 air-mile provision 395.1(e) or the current 16-hour exception in 395.1(o).

Drivers of property-carrying CMVs which do not require a Commercial Driver’s License for operation and who operate within a 100 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location:

• The driver, except a driver-salesperson, returns to the work reporting location and is released from work within 12 consecutive hours.
• A property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver has at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each 12 hours on duty.
• A property-carrying commercial motor vehicle driver does not exceed 11 hours maximum driving time following 10 consecutive hours off duty.
• Actually, there are a lot more provisions and “except for’s’ in here … different rules for driver salespersons, for example and completely different rules for “Passenger Carrying” vehicles … shuttle busses, School Busses, airport vans, taxi cabs …. you get the drift…)

Here’s the main point of this post and the one’s I’m going to follow this up with:

The motor carrier that employs the driver maintains and retains for a period of 6 months accurate and true time records showing:(my emphasis added)

• The time the driver reports for duty each day.
• The total number of hours the driver is on duty each day.
• The time the driver is released from duty each day.
• The total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with §395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.

So my question to you today, Mr. or Mr. Business owner is … do you have these records? Are they in a status that would allow you to take them with you to court and use them to prove your compliance? Would you be able to show them to a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Inspector who showed up at your door?

Tune in tomorrow and I’ll show you how you can have these records on your desktop, on your company server, for as long as you wish to keep them … and even get paid (achieve an ROI) to keep them. A good deal if I can deliver, yes?

GPS Tracking And Hours Of Service (HOS)

… Our Senators and House members should support putting recording devices in big rigs and other commercial trucks.

New Jersey’s representatives in Washington should work to make our highways safer by voicing their support for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s effort to get more trucking companies to install devices on trucks that make sure drivers don’t stay behind the wheel for more than 11 hours at a time…. Thus saith the Camden (NJ) Courier-Post regarding over the road truck drivers going beyond their allowable hours of service and endangering themselves and other drivers.

Now if this were the ordinary public outcry for yet another new law or regulation I wouldn’t even dignify it with a comment, let alone support it. But this issue is one of those narrow niches where the government actually could do something of benefit to all by virtue of pushing recalcitrant trucking firms to put down the 19th century buggy whips they still use and move into the 21st century in driver management (and net business bottom-line profits as well). Here’s some of the issue and why this may indeed be one of those laws that will do more good than harm.

Fatigue already figures as a factor in a lot of commercial vehicle accidents. The industry already has an extensive and comprehensive set of regulations known as the Federal Hours Of Service rules. The rules are proven, comprehensive (even arguably over-comprehensive) and difficult to comply with.

Since rigid compliance with the rules will limit the miles a driver can run in a day or week … which affects the take home pay of the driver and the profits of his employer .. the rules are, at the very least, skirted on a regular basis. To a large extent the rules are broken and various schemes are used to try to hide the unlawful deviations from the law and good sense.

Drivers must maintain a “log book” which is designed to document their activities every hour of every duty day … driving … on duty but not driving … off duty (but awake) and sleeping. If used a designed the log book provides the driver a way to know his status at all times and allows a law enforcement official to instantly check the drivers HOS legality as well. All sounds good and regulatory enough, doesn’t it?

The problem today is the average driver doesn’t even call the log book a “log book”. The common name in the trade is the “swindle sheet”. Drivers routinely fill out the log book after the fact or even keep two or more sets of log books so that when stopped for a check they an present a wholly fictitious document that purports they are legal when, in fact, they often are not. The trade papers are routinely full of employers who get caught participating in or even forcing these scams on drivers as well … and that is only the ones who get caught … the tip of the iceberg.

Today, simple and cheap digital recording devices could take the place of these notorious pager scams easily and cheaply. You can bet I would recommend a recorder which also provides GPS tracking information. Using GPS along with HOS regulation will provide the following benefits:

• Enhanced safety (immeasurable costs savings)
• A minimum of 10% (often much higher) fuel savings (thousands per year for a big rig)
• 10% reduction in off-route miles driven
• Near-foolproof protection of drivers and company owners from false claims of HOS violations, dangerous driving, violation of truck route restrictions, etc.
• Enhanced driver/employer relations (proven good drivers get reworded, proven bad drivers get a pink slip)
• Enhanced company/customer relations … no more arguments about when the truck arrived for loading or unloading or where the truck has been for the past three days.
• Early detection of expensive engine and chassis faults … avoiding thousands in repair bills.

A decent system can be purchased, installed and properly implemented for well under $1,000 per vehicle. Depending on the model and features chosen the monthly cost can be as low as nothing, nada, zero. The payback (ROI) will occur typically in 6 months or less … I’ve had clients who made back their investment in well under 90 days … a great rate of return). If you are a driver, company owner or investor, act now and save the possibility of being harassed by even more regulations. If you’re a private citizen … get on your law makers about making the roads safer and saving big money on transportation charges, which we all pay, even when we buy a can of beans at the supermarket.

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